The Wu Family China Center was formally launched in March at a celebration in Low Library. Read about the event.

P&S has launched the Academy of Clinical Mentoring and Excellence to recognize clinical faculty members who contribute to Columbia predominantly through patient care. Read more.

Two Columbia neuroscientists participated in a dialogue, “Jazz and Thought,” at Lincoln Center in April to shed light on what happens in the brain when a jazz musician plays and what happens in the brains of audience members when they hear the music. Read more.

The Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center, a state-of-the-art medical and graduate education building on the CUMC campus, was dedicated on June 9 and opened in August. The building is a 100,000-square-foot, 14-story glass tower that incorporates technologically advanced classrooms, collaboration spaces, and a modern simulation center to reflect how medicine is taught, learned, and practiced in the 21st century. Read an article about the Vagelos Education Center, or visit the building website to learn more.

A SELECTION OF CLASS NOTES

A biography of Arthur Strauss’58 will be published in “The Leading Physicians of the World” as a new member of the International Association of HealthCare Professionals. Read more.

The Vagelos Institute for Energy Science and Technology at the University of Pennsylvania was created through a gift from Penn emeritus trustee and undergraduate alumnus P. Roy Vagelos’54 and his wife, Diana. Read about the new institute.

A bequest from the estate of Clyde Wu’56 and Helen Wu will fund music education programs at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Read more.

Shu Chien’57 PhD, director of the Institute of Engineering in Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, delivered the commencement address at the Penn State College of Engineering in May. Read the coverage.

Suzanne Oparil’65 was pictured in the New York Times when she was in town to be honored as a Castle Connolly 2016 National Physician of the Year.

Henry Balfour Jr.’66, professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota, was speaker at a webinar about Epstein-Barr virus infection. Read more.

Russell Ciafone’72 has been invited to join the Expert Network, based on peer reviews and ratings and accomplishments during his career. Read more.

Barry I. Eisenstein’72 was one of the speakers at a March 2016 forum, “Resistance: The Antibiotics Forum,” sponsored by the Atlantic magazine. Read more.

Allen Weiss’73, president and chief executive of a health care system in Florida, is one of eight new members of the board of trustees for the American Hospital Association. Read more.

An article in a North Carolina newspaper about the 2016 Olympics mentioned the gold medals Stephen Rerych’74 won in the 1968 Olympics. Read more.

Leonard R. Krilov’78 was named chair of pediatrics at Winthrop-University Hospital. He previously served as vice chair of pediatrics and will continue to serve as chief of the division of pediatric infectious diseases at Winthrop. Read more.

Anne B. Curtis’79 was one of six faculty members named SUNY Distinguished Professors, SUNY’s highest academic rank. She joined the University of Buffalo in 2010 as the inaugural Mary and Charles Bauer Professor, chair of the Department of Medicine, and president and CEO of UBMD Internal Medicine. Read the announcement and also learn about a study Dr. Curtis led that showed a smartphone app was as good as an ambulatory monitor in tracking heart palpitations.

Paul Brandt-Rauf’79 was named dean of the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems at Drexel University. Read the announcement. He has been dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois in Chicago since 2008.

The Las Cruces, N.M., newspaper reported on a free clinic for children born with cleft palate and other craniofacial anomalies. Luis Cuadros’80 was the principal medical provider at the event. Read the article.

Kira A. Geraci-Ciardullo’80 was re-elected speaker of the Medical Society of the State of New York at the organization’s 210th annual House of Delegates meeting. She is the second woman elected to two terms in the post. Read more.

Karin Muraszko’81 authored an opinion piece on CNN about overcoming skepticism that followed being born with a closed form of spina bifida. She is now chair of neurosurgery at the University of Michigan.

Velma Scantlebury’81 was featured in an article about two Caribbean women who are much more than medical specialists who are on top of their world. She ranks among the nation’s top 10 Caribbean-born female doctors, as cited by News Americas. Read more.

Learn how football had an impact on Paul McCormick’82’s decision to become a neurosurgeon.

Leason Ellis, an intellectual property law firm in White Plains, has added Michael Davitz’83 as a partner. Read more.

Timothy Wang’83 is the new president of the American Gastroenterological Association Institute. Read more.

Douglas Nordli Jr.’84 has been named chief of pediatric neurology and co-director of the Neurosciences Center at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and vice chair of neurology at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. Read more.

Laura Forese’87 was named chair of the newly formed NIH Clinical Center Hospital Board. Dr. Forese is executive vice president and chief operating officer at NewYork-Presbyterian. Read more.

Kevin Ho’87 joined Geisinger Medical Center and Geisinger Kidney Health Research Institute in Danville, Pa., as a provider and research investigator. Read more.

In an interview, Andrew Goldstein’89 discusses a risky surgery he performed on Freddie Kitchens, the quarterback coach for the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals; issues with Arizona’s health system; and the inspiration for his career.

James Hoff’90 joined CHRISTUS Trinity Clinic Cardiology, part of the CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Health System in Texas. Read more.

The Ponte Vedra Recorder newspaper in Florida published a Q&A with Jacksonville cardiologist Anthony Magnano’95.

Among the participants at the seventh International THz-Bio Workshop in Seoul in April was Ogan Gurel’96, CEO of NovumWaves, a terahertz technology-based venture company. Read about his interview with Business Korea.

Val Jones’01 wrote about a series of coincidences in helping a patient during a business trip. Read more. She was also featured on the cover of the May 2016 issue of The Message, the monthly news magazine of the Spokane County Medical Society. The cover story, titled “Exercise Is Meditation,” describes her use of high-intensity interval training and heavy weightlifting for relaxation.

Sara Niego’01 has joined Silver Hill Hospital in Connecticut as an attending psychiatrist for the eating disorders program. Read more.

Elijah Owens’03 is featured in a Florence, S.C., newspaper series on Alzheimer’s disease.

Philip Payne’07 PhD has been named the inaugural director of the Institute for Informatics at Washington University School of Medicine. Read more.

Jacqueline Lonier’09 has returned to P&S as an adult endocrinologist in the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center. Read more.

Award-winning author Uzodimma Iweala’11 was profiled in an article in BizNis Africa, an online news site that focuses on Africa’s major business economic sectors. A Nigerian newspaper also wrote about Dr. Iweala and his novel, “Beasts of No Nations,” which became the basis of a film with the same name that premiered on Netflix in 2015.

STAT, an online publication with compelling stories about health, medicine, and scientific discovery, wrote about Abdul El-Sayed’14, Detroit’s new health commissioner. Read more.

OF HISTORICAL NOTE

An article gives an overview of the life and philosophy of pediatrician Benjamin Spock’29.

Virginia Apgar’33 was the subject of a “This Month in Medical History” online piece.

A bronze statue of novelist Walker Percy’41 was unveiled in Covington, La. The public can sit on a bench with Dr. Percy, who is depicted petting his dog, Sweet Thang. Read more.